1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of sanitary devices or appliances such as toilettes, sinks, bathtubs, bidets and the like, wherein taps, faucets, valves, and other water or liquid supplying devices are connected, which devices must be firmly retained in at least a wall of the corresponding device to facilitate the connection of the device to the water carrying pipeline of the water home or public installation.
To the purpose of the present specification the term device wall must be understood as comprising any surface and/or wall of a device preferably comprising a public or home sanitary device such a sink, bidets, tubs, or kitchen counters and the taps comprise any kind of valve devices or faucets that have a tube portion passing through the cited device wall and being connected to the water or other fluid carrying pipeline.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known to provide a firm connection between the set of taps provided in any sanitary device or kitchen counter wherein the taps include a pipe portion extending through a wall of the device, with the pipe or conduit portion being provided with threads on the outer surface thereof for a nut to be threaded in the pipe threads to retain the tap against the device wall. The installation of the nut, and particularly the insertion of a tool for rotating the nut is not always possible in the very small room available under sinks, bathtubs and bidets. This situation makes the nuts to be rotated by hand and then adjusted, as much as possible, by any kind of a small tool which causes the nut to be not always well adjusted.
To overcome the above problem a clamp for retaining the tap against the device wall have been devised by the inventor of the present application and disclosed in the Argentine Pat. No. 235827. This patent discloses a clamp comprising a slight V-shaped plate with two portions angularly arranged, one portion including a large orifice for passing the conduit portion of the tap therethrough and the other portion having a small orifice with a screw passing therethrough. The large orifice is capable of clamping against the threaded portion of the tap upon tilting of the clamp by rotating the screw inserted in the small orifice and making the screw to engage the device wall to as to move the clamp with a lever movement around the pipe portion of the tap. With this movement, the large orifice is wedged against the pipe portion and the pipe portion is pulled out of the device wall so as to fix the tap against the device. This clamp, however, occupies a large space and it becomes an obstacle for the further connection of the pipe portion to the water supplying pipeline. Some times, when connecting the water pipeline, the clamp is inadvertently knocked and the retention is released.
In addition, the large and clamping orifice of the patented clamp hardly remained retained against the pipe portion because the retention, gripping or grasping effect between the inner edges of the orifice and the outer surface of the pipe portion is not enough for a well retention and no means are provided for enhancing this retention.
It would be therefore convenient to have a clamp for replacing the nut-threaded pipe retention but without the drawbacks of space consuming like with the clamp disclosed in the prior patent of the same inventor.